Stiff Records

Stiff Records was a British independent label founded in London by Dave Robinson and Jake Riviera. It operated from 1976 until 1986, then came back to life in 2007.

History

Robinson and Riviera were well-known figures in the London music scene. Robinson had worked briefly for Jimi Hendrix in the late 1960s and managed the pub rock band Brinsley Schwarz, where Nick Lowe played bass and sang.

Riviera had managed another pub rock band, Dr. Feelgood. The label started with a £400 loan from Dr. Feelgood’s Lee Brilleaux. Originally called Demon, the name changed to Stiff because the phrase "It’s a stiff!" seemed fitting for its artists.

The label’s first release was Nick Lowe’s single "So It Goes" on 14 August 1976, with the catalogue number BUY 1. It sold 10,000 copies. The next single, "Between The Lines" by Pink Fairies, sold about half that. Robinson and Riviera used money from their management company Advancedale to put out what is widely considered the UK’s first punk single, "New Rose" by The Damned, on 22 October 1976.

In early 1977, Stiff signed Wreckless Eric, Ian Dury, and Elvis Costello, who had once been a part-time roadie for Brinsley Schwarz. Sales grew, and a distribution deal with Island Records through EMI was arranged. After getting Costello and Lowe signed directly to CBS’s Columbia label, a similar deal was made with Arista for Ian Dury’s first album and the Live Stiffs Live album. That deal didn’t last, and Stiff then made a deal with CBS for US releases on the Stiff/Columbia and Stiff/Epic labels.

Robinson and Riviera had a volatile partnership. After a series of disagreements, Riviera left in early 1978 to form Radar Records, taking Elvis Costello, Nick Lowe, and Yachts as a settlement.

His departure came at the end of the "5 Live Stiffs Tour," which featured Ian Dury. Dury’s album New Boots & Panties!! climbed the charts, and its sales kept the label afloat. In 1979, Robinson signed Madness, who released albums from 1979 to 1984.

The next few years were the label’s peak, with many Top 20 singles, including its first No. 1, "Hit Me with Your Rhythm Stick" by Ian Dury, and several big-selling albums. Stiff expanded, moved offices twice, and kept putting out obscure releases, like the silent parody LP The Wit & Wisdom of Ronald Reagan.

At the end of 1983, Island Records bought 50% of Stiff, and Robinson ran both labels. Island was short on cash, so Robinson lent it £1,000,000 to fund the share purchase and pay staff. In 1984, Island released Frankie Goes to Hollywood’s hit "Relax." Stiff signed The Pogues, but Madness left to start their own label, Zarjazz.

The Island deal fell apart, and Robinson regained control of the independent label in 1985. Hits by The Pogues and Furniture kept Stiff going for another twenty months, but the problems from the Island deal became too much. Stiff was sold to ZTT in 1987.

In 2007, ZTT and its parent company SPZ Group reactivated the label. Stiff quickly broke the indie act The Enemy, then released new albums from legacy artists like Wreckless Eric, Henry Priestman, Any Trouble, and Chris Difford.

New signings included The Tranzmitors and Eskimo Disco. Swedish designer Tobbe Stuhre became the label’s official designer. In 2008, Union Square Music released The Big Stiff Box Set.

The Stiffs Tours

The label also ran package tours. Before Stiff, Robinson and Riviera had organized the 1975 Naughty Rhythms tour for acts they managed. The first Stiff tour, the Live Stiffs Tour (or 5 Live Stiffs), ran from 3 October to 5 November 1977.

It featured five bands: Elvis Costello and The Attractions, Ian Dury and the Blockheads, Wreckless Eric and The New Rockets, Nick Lowe’s Last Chicken in the Shop, and Larry Wallis’s Psychedelic Rowdies. Since the artists were signed as individuals, bands had to be formed for the tour, mostly using session musicians from their solo records. The tour had 18 musicians, with some doubling up—for example, Dury played drums for Wreckless Eric, and the last two "bands" shared the same lineup of Nick Lowe, Larry Wallis, Dave Edmunds, and Terry W.